The present invention relates to a button mounting apparatus and a button mounting method, and more particularly, to a button mounting apparatus and a button mounting method capable of mounting a button main body onto a cloth while interposing an intermediate material between the button main body and the cloth or between a button mounting member and the cloth when mounting the button main body onto the cloth such as a garment with the button mounting member.
When a button main body is mounted onto a cloth, in general, after the button main body is held on an upper die and a button mounting member is placed on a lower die, the upper die is lowered toward the lower die. After a post of the button mounting member penetrates the cloth upward and then passes through a mounting opening of the button main body, the post is swaged by a punch of the upper die. Thereby, the button main body is fixed to the cloth. The cloth on which the button main body is mounted is compressed between the button main body and the button mounting member. However, when the cloth is thin, there would be a probability that mounting failure occurs such that the mounted button main body can be displaced or easily fall out. In such a case, conventionally, an intermediate material, also referred to as a packing or the like is interposed between the button main body and the cloth or between the button mounting member and the cloth in order to compensate for an insufficient thickness of the cloth. Furthermore, JP,H09-209209,A discloses a technique of interposing an intermediate material (a decorative member) having an outer diameter greater than that of the button main body in order to enhance design characteristics of a garment or the like, regardless of the thickness of cloth.    [Patent document 1] JP,H09-209209,A
However, in a case where the intermediate material is interposed as the button main body is mounted onto the cloth, under the present situation, a worker manually holds the intermediate material on the upper die or the lower die. For that reason, there is a problem that a mounting operation of button main bodies is inefficient.